<p>If I were to get a 3.5 GPa from a good private high school and someone were to get a 4.0 Gpa from an easier public shool would Harvard consider the 4.0 or 3.5 gpa and why?</p>
<p>They’ll consider both of them because that’s how admissions works, but it’s unlikely that either of them will be accepted because that’s how Harvard works.
I don’t see how they could penalize the public school student because it looks like they had no choice of where they went. The 3.5 person could also be okay if their class rank was high.</p>
<p>Probably neither will get in because it is Harvard, but…</p>
<p>They would consider a lower GPA from a good school with a good rank as decent, but when you are looking at schools that are so selective you can’t really afford to have those grades. For schools that are a little less selective they would probably favor the student with the 3.5.</p>
<p>Also, it’s Harvard, so they have a bunch of 4.0 awesome private school people too.</p>
<p>Is there some reason why a private high school would give a better education than a public school? I’ve heard from many teachers that have taught at private schools that they were discouraged from failing students, so a lot of really poor students passed when they shouldn’t have. Also the students don’t seem as well-rounded, especially socially, as public school students.</p>
<p>The top school in my area (by far) is public. I don’t see why the public/private thing is mentioned.</p>
<p>Well, most schools that suck horribly are public, probably because most schools in general are public (in the US, at least). If someone’s rich and the local public school sucks they’ll send their kid to a private school, and probably a good one because who would pay money to go to a bad one?</p>
<p>halcyonheather
“If someone’s rich and the local public school sucks they’ll send their kid to a private school, and probably a good one because who would pay money to go to a bad one?”</p>
<p>That is not always true. Someone could be wealthy, live in an excellent public school district, and still decide to send her child to a private school that is no better than the public school. I see it where I live when a parent thinks student is either being lost in the shuffle at the public school, or one child in the family has some needs or issues that the parent thinks are not being fully addressed by the public school. Some families just want the smaller class size and/or hand holding that the private school can offer. Private schools are not always better than publics. </p>
<p>To answer Stefan’s question and ignoring Harvard, colleges look at the school’s profile to see how GPAs distribute and the relative strength of a HS.</p>
<p>I see more people go to a private school because the parents want their children to go to a Christian school or because they think their child will be safer there, rather than people who go to private schools for academic reasons. Make of that what you will.</p>